4,894 -- The number of career passing yards by Abilene Cooper Clayton Nicholas, who broke the school record for career passing yards with a 317-yard performance against Odessa High. Nicholas ste the school career passing touchdown record in that game as well with 49.

QUOTABLE

It was a Permian-Midland Lee game all the way.

-- Permian coach Gary Gaines on his team's 17-16 win against Lee that came down to a failed two-point conversion with six seconds remaining in the game.

Odessa High

-- The Bronchos suffered their third most lopsided loss of the season against Abilene Cooper as Cooper went up 28-0 with 1:48 left in the half. It was Odessa High's second-largest deficit of the season after Abilene High went up 35-0 in the third quarter of a 63-20 win. "We just gave up too many big plays and offensively we didn't control the football and they were able to take advantage of our miscues on both sides of the ball," coach Ron King said. "Can't do that against a good team like that."

-- Ivan Subia remained steady as he rushed for 187 yards and both of the Bronchos' touchdowns on 26 carries. Johnny Campos accounted for 140 yards of offense himself.

-- Odessa High played a fairly clean game, committing no turnovers and only getting flagged twice for a total of ten yards.

-- Isaiah Dreary stepped up in the recieiving game catching six passes for 60 yards. Dreary accounted for all but two of the Bronchos' completions and all but 10 of their receiving yards.

Odessa Permian

-- Permian running back Jorrion Wilson suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter against Lee that caused him to miss the rest of the first half. Wilson returned in the second half but was largely ineffective, finishing with a season-low 35 yards. "He shouldn't have played in the second," Permian head coach Gary Gaines said. It was only the second time he hasn't rushed for 100 yards this season.

-- Jack Wilkins replaced starter Kacey Ryan on the third play of the game and opened the game on fire, completing seven of 10 passes in the first quarter for 99 yards and two touchdowns. Wilkins finished the game 15 of 25 for 223 yards and two touchdowns and didn't toss an interception.

-- The Panther defense allowed 55 points to Abilene Cooper in its second district game but tightened up, especially early, against Lee. Permian didn't allow a Lee score until less than 10 minutes remained in the game and only allowed 16 on the night.

-- Permian won the all-important turnover battle against Lee by not turning the ball over at all and recovering Lee's only two fumbles of the game on a kickoff and a botched handoff on a reverse.

Abilene High

-- Abilene High clinched a playoff spot with its 30-18 victory against Midland High on Friday. It marks the 13th consecutive year Abilene High has qualified for the postseason.

"Anytime you can look up at the scoreboard at the end of the game and realize you qualified for the playoffs it's a great feeling and a great win," AHS coach Steve Warren said. "Midland High is talented. I was impressive with their offensive line and running back."

-- Warren felt the Eagles delivered perhaps their best defensive performance of the year. Midland High finished the game with 344 total yards, including 186 rushing, but the Eagles made stops when it mattered most.

The Eagles snuffed out Midland High's initial drive of the game and also had a goal line stand in the second half, which seemed to completely take the wind of the Bulldogs' sails.

"When it comes down to it, I think that was our best game defensively," Warren said. "When you think about the goal line stand and even the plays we made in the kicking game. It was a nice performance."

-- Junior linebacker Brandon Seely played his best game of the year, forcing two turnovers that directly led to 10 Abilene High points. After being held to a three-and-out on their first drive, the Eagles were forced to punt in its own territory. Midland High returner Phillip Fuentes was fighting for yards, when Seely reached in and stripped the ball. Abilene High recovered the ball and eventually scored a TD.

Later in the second quarter, Fuentes had a pass bounce of his hands and Seely was in the right spot again, coming up with the tipped ball for an interception and returning it into Midland High territory. The Eagles eventually scored a field goal on that drive.

"That was his best game of the year," Warren said. "He's a young kid who hasn't started every week, but worked his way into the starting lineup. He really stuck with it and has had a nice presence on special teams for us."

Abilene Cooper

-- The Cougars qualified for the playoffs and remained undefeated in District 3-5A with a 42-14 victory against Odessa High on Friday. It's the fifth straight year the Cougars have made it into the postseason. They've also now won six straight games.

"It's always nice to have an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot this early in the schedule," Cooper coach Todd Moebes said. "It takes a little pressure off the rest of the year, although we definitely want to win the district title as well. This is big for our team and especially our senior class."

-- The win against Odessa High was Cooper's second victory at Ratliff Stadium in as many weeks. The Cougars had beaten Odessa Permian 55-35 two weeks ago, which Moebes considers no small feat.

"It's tough to go to Ratliff and play two tough teams back to back," Moebes said. "I'm proud of the way we performance. There's obviously some thing we need to work on and get better at moving forward, but I think we've been performing well."

-- Senior quarterback Clayton Nicholas, a Texas Tech commit, became the Cougars all-time leader in passing yards and passing TDs with his 317-yard, three-touchdown performance against Odessa High on Friday. Nicholas, who passed for 2,907 and 30 TDs last season now has 1,892 yards and nine TDs on the year. That gives him 4,894 yards and 49 TDs for his career, during which he was a two-year starter.

He broke the records of Ryan Heslep, who Nicholas was a backup for as a sophomore. With at least three games left to play for the senior QB, it seems likely he'll top 5,000 career passing yards and 50 TDs.